Aftermath
by Zaram'delar
Summary: In any celebration, there's always one or two people with a habit of disappearing. Taang drabbleish series.
1. Aftermath

**Obligatory Disclaimer:** Avatar isn't mine, and to an extent, Neil Gaiman's Stardust. Yeah.

Like the first oneshot, Imma gonna add a coat of edit here in a day. I just wanted to post this now.

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Kuei heard the screams of indiscriminate joy issuing from tens of thousands of mouths before he heard the news, so he already knew what the exhausted messenger had to say when he arrived tired, breathless, and in dire need of a good shower. In a grave travesty to tradition, Kuei himself took the scroll off the poor man's hands, and granted him the shower he sorely needed. One look at the scroll, and he began barking commands to his wide-eyed advisors. They had three days to prepare for the largest and grandest celebration in over a hundred years. 

Of course, in three days, the Avatar arrived. The main road that stretched from the outer wall to the Palace itself was packed with people waiting with anticipation the arrival of the Avatar and his group, who will be carried by a covered carriage all the way to the palace, preceded by soldiers and heralds and boar-q-pines (nothing says get the hell out of my way than a pair of trained boar-q-pines, Kuei explained), where they will be presented to Kuei and his advisors in the presence of all of Ba Sing Se. An orchestra started playing when the carriage stopped, and the cheers grew louder and louder.

And amid the chaos, Kuei approached the carriage and threw open its doors at the crescendo of the trumpets. The cheers reached a climax, and the crowds bustled with activity, each one determined to see the Avatar in all his glory.

But nothing was inside. Except a winged lemur that climbed up Kuei's head.

The crowds went silent, completely stunned by the fact that their heroes, their saviors, were simply not there. The band faded a few moments later on a very flat note, and the slightest noise carried over the entire assembly. A baby cried in the uncomfortable silence. An old man cleared his throat. A kid wanted the lemur as a pet.

The lemur had a small note in its hand, hastily scrawled in the Avatar's familiar hand, that stunned Kuei even more than the mere fact that they were not there. He recovered badly, and shakily read the note to the expectant public.  
_  
Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us._

Putting the letter down, Kuei had to laugh, and he did. Rather, it was less than a laugh and more of a guffaw, for the next moment he realized his subjects were staring blankly at him. He tried to think a way out of his predicament, but found that he couldn't.

For some reason that made him feel a whole lot better than before.

* * *

Much farther away, somewhere more south, more lush, and definitely more quiet, and quite in the middle of nowhere in fact, the missing Avatar was underneath a tree. Not just any tree, but a tree on a hill, where the Avatar could be found staring at the skies with a wistful expression on his face. He drank slowly and lazily a cup of hot ginseng tea, but still he felt a restless poke in his seat that made it uncomfortable to relax. It turned out to be a rock that he bended away like a small bullet into the the distance. 

"It's finally over." He whispered, but more to himself than to anyone else. Toph had already fallen asleep beside him moments ago. He could barely hearing her light snoring over the rustling of leaves.

Aang felt tired, exhausted even. But it was a marvelous form of exhaustion, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Indeed it was, though he still found it hard to believe. They actually managed it, against all odds, to defeat Ozai and Azula. It seemed almost surreal.

"You still talking about that?" Toph mumbled in reply. She was still awake, but barely. Aang smiled, and poked her playfully. Toph grumbled and batted his hand away.

"Hey Toph."

"What now Twinkletoes?"

"You think Kuei will be mad at us?"

"We'll just tell him you had Avatar stuff to do. Now let me sleep."

"...good idea."

They lapsed into a relaxed silence, and in a few moments, Toph finally did fall asleep on his shoulder. The scent of soft jasmine and the long ebony locks almost overwhelmed his already drowsy senses, and Aang had to sigh contently. With a soft smile, he placed the half-filled cup of tea down to the ground, and allowed himself the smallest luxury of a moment's sleep.

He had a good dream that day.

* * *

A/N: This came to me in a dream and a book, Stardust (preparing for the movie), and yeah. I think I'll use this as part of the ending of Destiny's Edge. 

Speaking of which, Destiny's Edge will have to stop until the midterm season is over, but I might squeeze in enough scenes that could be a chapter to post. Otherwise, don't expect anything from there. There's also the problem with the White Lotus. I might have to retcon some stuff to nerf them down. Eh.

Review. Come on...the big CW (creative writing) pass-or-you-drop exam is in a week or so. Gah. Haha. I'll just post this now, since I'm leaving in five minutes. Oh well.

Review!


	2. Blind Trust

_Essential Disclaimer_ Avatar isn't mine. Really. If it did, Season 3 would be showing in the Philippines right now.

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**Blind Trust **

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The Northern Water Tribe. Tall majestic spires erupting from the ground, elegantly sculpted frozen statues at every corner, long, winding canals of crystalline water. A land of snow and ice said to be even more impregnable than Ba Sing Se itself. And even one year after the end of the war, the city still proved impenetrable, bearing little scars from the war and many reasons to celebrate as noisily as they could. For one thing, the Avatar and his earthbending teacher were there on a week-long diplomatic visit. 

Seven days of boring council meetings.

Two days in, and Chief Arnook already had to send soldiers out looking for the missing Avatar and his blind earthbending teacher.

* * *

But as a matter of fact, the noisy sound of celebrations had become distant echoes to the Avatar and his earthbending teacher, almost completely overwhelmed by the cavernous silence surrounding them. The slightest noise seemed to echo around them, and their hushed whispers seemed more like shouts and orders. 

"Now turn left. No, your other left. No, wait, stop, Stop, STOP!"

_Thud_

"Ow."

"Now will you let me lead you?"

"...fine"

Aang looked down on the fallen girl with an overdramatic sigh.

Unable to see, Toph could only imagine the amused smile etched right in Aang's face, which was enough to annoy her. She tried to glare menacingly back at the source of the sigh, but failed when her stern gaze was redirected by a firm hand on her chin to where she was actually supposed to glare at. The hand traveled down her shoulder and took hold of her small, calloused hands, and pulled her up from the icy floor.

"Where are we going anyway Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, though it galled her to do so. Total blindness really wasn't something she was used to, and the city of ice and snow left nothing for her to bend in, nothing for her to actually see in.

"It's a surprise" Aang said, but Toph just rolled her eyes. "Come on, it's not that far away."

He tugged at Toph's hand, dragging her along through innumerable twists and turns, confusing Toph to no end. She could only follow breathlessly, her face still raw from the headlong collision with a solid wall of ice. Slowly, the distant echoes of celebration faded away into a total silence, punctuated only by the muffled footsteps of the pair. Perhaps even more slowly, their own footsteps were also replaced by the clamor of falling water.

"Hmm? Yeah, it's a waterfall." Aang replied when she asked. "Just a little farther."

The clamor of the waterfall grew louder and louder, reaching its peak, before fading back to silence for the last time. The frozen surroundings grew warmer and warmer with every echoing step they took, much to Toph's wonderment.

"You'll see." Aang chuckled in response.

And they left the frozen pathways benhind when they stepped on the old, wooden bridge. For a moment, she thought she could feel something, something she could see in, but then old bridge that creaked under their weight proved too shifty and unstable for her to catch any useful vibrations in.

"Careful now." He cautioned when she moved too fast. Aang led her slowly, gently across, holding both her hands securely to keep her from stumbling on the uneven bridge.

She gasped when she finally stepped on solid a earth, the first vibrations of her footfall traveling all across the tiny island and back in a blink of an eye, and she can see. See the island's form, the rocks, the bridges, all of it. And of course, more importantly,_ him_.

"We've been in the city for days now." Aang explained sheepishly. "I thought you'd want some good old earth before you go totally crazy."

Toph cracked a smile. Not her usual _haha _smile when she'd just spiked Aang's tea with cactus juice, but the rare genuine smile that only comes around if you coax it out little by little. And feeling the need to do so, she reached over and awkwardly hugged him to show her appreciation. "Thanks Aang."

Aang smiled wider than ever, now that he knew Toph could see it, or at least feel it, and hugged her back in turn. They held that position for a long moment, before the gravity of Toph's words struck Aang.

"You called me Aang." He pointed out with a poke to her cheek.

She knocked him playfully on the head. "Only on special occasions Twinkletoes."

"So this is a special occasion?"

"...yeah. It sure is."

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A/N: I've been out of touch with writing for a while, and I needed something to jumpstart my creative juices and return to my multichap (now an AU). The idea came when I was about to fall asleep about a week ago. I made a basic plot, lost it, and found it again a couple days ago, and did this right now. I'm sleepy, so I'll gloss over the errors tomorrow. 

Edit: Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it. First swipe over Blind Trust, fixed stuff up, added a little backstory. I might do a final swipe tom (sleepy now), if I find something wrong with it. And anyone tell me please, what's wrong with it, and I'll gladly fix it.

It seems sequel-ish now to Aftermath, just in the North Pole. Really, the only clod of dirt there would be the Oasis, so naturally...eh.

Review!


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